How long can you stay in the UK on a Business Visa?

In order to visit the UK for business, you need to apply for the Standard Visitor Visa. This is a 6-month visa which you can apply for up to 3 months before you travel. Davenport Solicitors are business immigration experts and are on hand to guide you through the entire UK business visa process.

What is the UK Business Visa?

The UK business visa is a one-time or longer-term visa that allows holders to stay in the UK for up to 6 months at a time. You must apply for this visa if you are visiting the UK for reasons including:

• Attending a meeting or training
• Employees of a corporation based in another country are also allowed to engage in the following corporate or intra-corporate activities
• Share skills and knowledge on a specific internal project with UK employees of the same corporate group, providing no work is done directly with clients, advise, consult, troubleshoot, or provide training
• As an internal auditor for a UK branch of the same group of companies as your employer overseas, conduct regulatory or financial audits.
• Receive training in work methods and procedures that are essential for the visitor’s employment abroad and are not available in their home country from a UK-based company or organisation.

What can’t you do with a UK Business Visa?

The business visa UK falls under the standard UK visitor visa and, as such, carries many of the same limitations. UK immigration laws are very strict, and it’s important that you have clarity when putting together your visa application.

If you don’t provide sufficient evidence of your eligibility and intent for travelling to the UK, you risk having your application refused by the Home Office, or being turned down by immigration authorities when you arrive.

While it may seem comprehensive, the UK business visitor visa rules have strict limitations on the business duties you can perform during a short-term stay in the UK with the visa.

Some of the things you can’t do with a business visitor visa include:

• Doing paid or unpaid work during your stay. While there are a lot of business activities you can complete with a standard business visa, you can’t perform gainful employment, whether voluntary or not. If you’re working for an overseas company, you need to know that there’s a strict limitation on the work you can do during a short-term stay in the UK.
• Live or work in the UK for a long period of time. As a category of the standard UK visitor visa, it has a strict restriction on the amount of time you can spend in the UK.
• Receive any public funds. While performing a short-term business stay in the UK, you’re not permitted to access any benefits, grants, or bursaries from the UK government.

We hope that you have found this post useful. If you’d like to discuss applying for a business visa, contact our business immigration experts here.

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